Secrets And Stories Of The War

Secrets and Stories of the War (1963) by Various
Reader’s Digest — ISBN: none
Condition: Good
Two-book set
As sold by Crappy Old Books

There is a very particular sort of mid-20th-century confidence embodied by a Reader’s Digest war set. It does not sidle onto the shelf uncertainly. It arrives like a retired wing commander at a village hall lecture: polished, composed, faintly stern, and carrying an alarming quantity of information. Secrets and Stories of the War is exactly that kind of production — a 1963 two-volume set gathering wartime episodes, hidden operations, human drama, and the sort of true stories that remind you history was not only shaped by famous leaders and vast armies, but also by codes, courage, luck, improvisation, and a great many people being unexpectedly brave in deeply inconvenient circumstances.

This is the kind of title that promises not just “the war,” but its more tantalising compartments: the behind-the-scenes bits, the whispered bits, the bits involving deception, endurance, resistance, escape, intelligence, and those moments where ordinary human beings found themselves drafted into extraordinary plots. Reader’s Digest, of course, specialised in packaging the large and complicated into something handsome, digestible, and reassuringly solid. So what you get here is not a dry official history marching past in endless formation, but a curated parade of memorable incidents, hidden struggles, and vivid wartime narratives designed to keep the reader turning pages while quietly becoming better informed than half the room.

And handsome it is. This two-book set, in Good condition, has that unmistakable early-1960s air of respectable seriousness: sturdy boards, sober design, and the visual suggestion that these volumes belong in a house where people once referred to “wireless programmes” and kept important papers in proper drawers. They look like books bought by someone who intended to understand the twentieth century properly, perhaps after tea, and certainly in a decent armchair. The result is a set with presence. It does not merely contain history; it looks as though it has been entrusted with it.

What makes collections like this so appealing now is the mixture of scale and intimacy. The Second World War can so easily flatten into familiar headlines — battles, leaders, dates, strategic turns — but books such as Secrets and Stories of the War restore some of the texture. They remind us that history was also made of coded messages, split-second decisions, half-improvised plans, astonishing escapes, bureaucratic cleverness, disasters narrowly avoided, and those deeply British moments where someone probably did something heroic while still sounding mildly inconvenienced. There is grandeur here, certainly, but also anecdote, atmosphere, and the strange, gripping mechanics of events still close enough in 1963 to feel remembered rather than merely archived.

There is also something wonderfully ironic about Reader’s Digest presenting war secrets in a format so solid and domestic. “Secrets,” yes — but neatly bound, elegantly arranged, and ready to sit beside the encyclopaedias. One imagines a generation of readers opening these volumes expecting a little edification and finding instead sabotage, espionage, peril, resilience, and the occasional tale of absolute nerve under pressure. It is a reminder that the 1960s still lived in the long shadow of the conflict, and that memory had not yet become museum glass. These stories were not ancient then. They were still close enough to feel personal.

As a Crappy Old Books item, this set has exactly the right sort of gravitas. It is ideal for the reader who likes history with substance, but also likes their substance delivered with a little narrative flair and old-fashioned publishing confidence. It would suit anyone interested in wartime intelligence, hidden episodes, human-interest history, or simply the pleasure of owning books that look as though they ought to contain maps, secret files, and at least one chapter involving someone escaping across occupied territory with improbable calm.

And because it is a two-book set, there is an added satisfaction to it: not merely a single volume making a respectable effort, but a pair of books standing together like coordinated veterans of the same campaign. They look the part, feel the part, and promise many hours of absorbing reading. There is a comforting completeness in a matched set, even when the subject matter is all upheaval, danger, and continental catastrophe.

In short, Secrets and Stories of the War is a richly appealing slice of postwar publishing: serious but readable, dramatic but grounded, handsome but not flashy. A Good 1963 Reader’s Digest two-volume set, it offers wartime history in that now-rare form — authoritative, accessible, and physically substantial enough to survive both decades of bookshelf life and the occasional overconfident dusting session. A fine thing for anyone who likes their history vivid, their books sturdy, and their secrets properly hardbound.

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